A View from Space

2013 July 9

The wildfires that have occurred this year in the western United States are not a new phenomenon, but they have proven to be as grave and severe as ever. If you haven’t seen this view yet, we wanted to be sure you caught it.

Smoke from wildfires has the potential to travel into our atmosphere, dispersing pollutants and particulate matter in far away areas. These two photographs taken from astronauts on the International Space Station, provides the right perspective to see that happening.

According to NASA, satellites indicated that smoke from this set of wildfires reached European airspace by June 24. A reminder yet again, that pollutants – naturally occurring or the result of human activity – do not follow the boundaries or paths laid by mankind.

“…The images show a plume wafting from the West Fork Complex fire… To the northwest, a smaller plume from the Wild Rose fire is also visible (upper image).

While the Wild Rose blaze was fully contained by June 25, 2013, the West Fork Complex was still raging through the San Juan and Rio Grande National Forests. The West Fork Complex is a combination of three fires: the West Fork fire, the Windy Pass fire, and the Papoose fire. Lightning ignited the first of the blazes on June 5, 2013, and together they had charred approximately 75,000 acres (30,000 hectares) by June 25. The fires were burning in rugged terrain with large amounts of beetle-killed spruce forests.

The West Fork Complex fire was so hot that it spawned numerous pyrocumulus clouds—tall, cauliflower-shaped clouds that billowed high above the surface. Pyrocumulus clouds are similar to cumulus clouds, but the heat that forces the air to rise comes from fire instead of sun-warmed ground.

Scientists monitor pyrocumulus clouds closely because they can inject smoke and pollutants high into the atmosphere. As those pollutants are dispersed by wind, they can affect air quality over broad areas. As noted by the University Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) Smog Blog, smoke from western fires contributed to elevated concentrations of particulate matter over large sections of the eastern United States.

Preliminary observations by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite indicate the West Fork Complex fire lofted smoke plumes as high as 13.5 kilometers (8.4 miles) into the atmosphere. Satellite observations also show that smoke reached European airspace by June 24.

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.